Kimbell Art Museum--page 1 (of two pages)

Louis Kahn
1969-72

This simple but elegant building is often described as Kahn's greatest masterpiece. In many ways it is the antithesis of monumental. Note, for example, the drive-in entrance below. The form is simple, using repeated units (which is characteristic of Kahn's works). The structure is comprised of a series of one-story barrel-vaulted spaces--units 100 feet long and 23 feet wide connected by eight foot channels which contain service elements. Six vaults in a row flank the four inner vaults. It is constructed of concrete and travertine.